Book I
The Corpus Hermeticum
Seventeen treatises, from Poimandres, the Shepherd of Men, to the Secret Sermon on the Mountain.
“I am Man‑Shepherd, Mind of all‑masterhood; I know what thou desirest and I’m with thee everywhere.”
The writings of Hermes Trismegistus
The whole Hermetica, in one volume.
The Corpus Hermeticum, the Asclepius, the Emerald Tablet, and texts buried in the Egyptian desert, newly translated.
- Poimandres, the Shepherd of Men
- The Cup or Monad
- The Key
- The Secret Sermon on the Mountain
- The Perfect Sermon
- The Lament for Egypt
- The Virgin of the World
- Of Isis to Horus
- A Hymn of the Gods
- The Emerald Tablet
- The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
- The Definitions of Hermes to Asclepius
- The Oxford Hermetic Extracts
It never existed as one book.
The Hermetica survived in pieces, scattered across four ancient languages.
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Ἑρμῆς Τρισμέγιστος
Written in Greek.
In Roman Egypt, in the first centuries of our era: seventeen treatises and dozens of shorter passages.
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Hermes Trismegistus
Kept in Latin.
The Asclepius, the great dialogue whose Greek original is lost, survives only in a Latin translation.
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ⲫⲉⲣⲙⲏⲥ
Buried in Coptic.
Three texts sealed in a jar near Nag Hammadi around 350 to 400 CE, and found in 1945.
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ՀԵՐՄԵԱՅ ԵՌԱՄԵԾԻ
Saved in Armenian.
The Definitions of Hermes to Asclepius survive only in an Armenian translation of a lost Greek original.
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Hermes, Thrice‑Great
Gathered in English.
All of it, in one volume. The texts that had no public-domain English version are newly translated.
Inside the volume
Book II
The Perfect Sermon, or Asclepius
The great dialogue between Hermes and his pupil, with the Lament for Egypt.
“Egypt is the image of the Heaven.”
Book III
The Excerpts of Stobaeus
Thirty-one passages kept by a 5th-century anthologist, including the Virgin of the World.
Book IV
Fragments and testimonies
Twenty-eight fragments quoted by Tertullian, Lactantius, Cyril of Alexandria and others, with what ancient writers said of Hermes.
Book V
The Emerald Tablet
The Latin text and Isaac Newton’s own translation.
New
Three new translations
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, from the Coptic. The Definitions of Hermes to Asclepius, from the Armenian. Five Oxford extracts, from the Greek.
New for this edition
Texts buried in the desert, newly translated.
About 80% of the Hermetica already existed in public-domain English. The rest was only available in modern, copyrighted editions.
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
A Hermetic initiation into the eighth heaven and the vision of the ninth. A single Coptic copy survives, about 1,600 years old.
Translated line by line from photographs of the manuscript, Nag Hammadi Codex VI.
“I see a spring welling up with life.”
The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius
Sayings on God, the world, the soul and the mind, kept only in an Armenian translation made around the 6th century.
Translated from the first edition of the Armenian text (Yerevan, 1956), based on six medieval manuscripts.
“Nothing is empty of God.”
The Oxford Hermetic Extracts
Five short passages on the soul, the senses, human law and how the body takes shape in the womb, found only in a medieval manuscript in Oxford.
Translated from the Greek of the first edition, in the Revue des Études Grecques (1991).
A brand-new AI-assisted translation, made from the ancient languages themselves, not from modern versions.
As above, so below.
“That which is below is like that which is above, & that which is above is like that which is below, to do the miracles of one only thing.”
From Isaac Newton to this edition
c. 1680
Isaac Newton
His own translation of the Emerald Tablet, kept in manuscript.
1906
G. R. S. Mead
Thrice‑Greatest Hermes: the main translation in this book.
1924
Walter Scott
Four excerpts of Stobaeus that Mead did not translate.
2026
This edition
New translations from the Coptic, the Armenian and the Greek.
The book
One hardcover. Every text, once.
- Books I to V: the Corpus Hermeticum, the Asclepius, the Stobaeus excerpts, the fragments and the Emerald Tablet
- New translations from the Coptic, the Armenian and the Greek
- Printed to order and shipped to your door
Questions
Is this a new translation?
Mostly not. About 80% of the Hermetica already existed in public-domain English. This edition uses G. R. S. Mead’s translation (1906), Isaac Newton’s Emerald Tablet (about 1680) and four excerpts translated by Walter Scott (1924). The texts that had no public-domain English version are newly translated.
How were the new translations made?
From the ancient texts themselves, never from modern translations. The Coptic was read line by line from photographs of the original manuscript, the Armenian from the first edition of the text (Yerevan, 1956), and the Oxford extracts from the first edition of the Greek (1991). The translations were drafted with AI (Claude, by Anthropic).
Who was Hermes Trismegistus?
The “Thrice-Great” Hermes: the Greek god Hermes merged with Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing and wisdom. He is the teacher in these dialogues, which were written in Greek in Roman Egypt, mostly between 100 and 300 CE.
Is the Kybalion included?
No. The Kybalion was published in Chicago in 1908 and is not an ancient text. This book holds only the ancient Hermetic writings.
How is the book printed and shipped?
Each copy is printed to order as a hardcover and shipped directly to you. Delivery is free.